


Beautiful Hearts

by TheAwkwardEnthusiast



Series: Spare Parts [3]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Angst, Bittersweet Ending, Character Study, F/M, Fluff, Idiots in Love, Post-War, Robot/Human Relationships, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-03-01 04:08:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18792685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAwkwardEnthusiast/pseuds/TheAwkwardEnthusiast
Summary: Astoria Carlton-Ritz was never a woman who thought too much about love. At least, not until Powerglide crash-landed into her life and rescued her from the clutches of yet another inane Decepticon plot. So begins the chronicling of the events that lead up to the formation of their odd relationship, from unlikely allies to wayward romancers, and the fate that awaited them both once the Cybertronian war finally came to an end.





	Beautiful Hearts

What does it mean to love someone?

Like, truly love? Not the fleeting butterflies of a crush that comes and goes on a whim, but the sustaining and enduring affection that connects two very different souls together in a way that has yet to be understood.

You can love many things but you fall in love with only a few.

Astoria Carlton-Ritz had never been the kind of woman who thought too much about love. As a little girl, her fair hair and dark grey eyes always set her apart from her peers and her parent’s wealth allowed them to adorn her with pretty trinkets that brought out her natural beauty. Boys swooned and professed their intentions to court her mere moments after laying eyes on her, their limited vocabulary and soft oily voices weaving fantastical futures that their money was capable of buying them. They promised her mansions and fancy cars, dinners and balls and the coveted position of ‘wife’ of heirs to powerful capitalistic empires.

She’d preened at every offer, casting smug glances over her shoulder at the girls that went unnoticed and smiling sweetly at every boy she promised herself to. It was all a game to her, a fun game with exciting prizes to be collected, and she never once thought about the rules and hearts she was breaking.

Naturally, children grow up. They’re forced to go through the trials and errs of the world, falling and rising up to learn new experiences that would shape them into valuable members of society. But while Astoria’s round face and wide eyes left her and she adopted the mature beauty of her late mother, she was never able to truly grow as a normal person should. Her father loved her dearly but his love was warped by the death of his wife, the mother of the only child she’d lived to bear. He believed protecting Astoria from the world meant keeping her within the shiny halls of his many estates, with tutors and teachers to teach her all the academics and languages no one but her will ever hear her speak. Her best friend was her cello instructor and her first kiss had been the son of the gardener that tended to the flowers of her father’s gardens.

She had everything she needed; all the essentials and the fine quality products that you only imagined kings and queens of fairy tale lands owning. For a while, Astoria believed she was content. That she was happy and didn’t need anything else.

But when she was able to have a few moments of solitude, that’s when that feeling came in. It wasn’t anything grand, just a tickle in the back of her brain and an odd ache in her chest. Almost unnoticeable but kind of like how she felt when she forgot the note during one of her music lessons. Something was missing but for the life of her she couldn’t remember why.

Nobody was there to coach her through it and her father was absent almost all the time, too busy running his own company. He ran a company on the brink of technological innovation but oddly enough, Astoria hardly saw any technology around her home. One time she’d asked her cello instructor if she could have one of those fancy cars she saw everyone driving from her window but the man had stiffened, looked worried and then politely told her to start over with her musical piece.

When Richard Carlton-Ritz passed away of a heart attack, Astoria had been on the verge of celebrating her 30th birthday. She felt nothing at his passing, having zilch but vague recollections of pats on the head and bedtime phone calls from her childhood to remember him by; hardly enough to form a meaningful personal connection. She’d done her mourning when she’d gone to see him off and he’d given her a necklace and told her never to take it off. But she’d been taught to hold up public appearances and when her butler told her to mourn, she’d taken it literally and made a scene of draping herself over his closed casket at the funeral and crying dry tears that left her eyes puffy and uncomfortable after the service.

She tried to grumble about this to the men she knew had been her father’s friends but the old coots had looked at her like she was the plague personified and said nothing past a couple head shakes. Astoria didn’t take kindly to being ignored so she continued to pester them, complaining about how now that her father was gone she wouldn’t be able to have any more of the stuff she had because his money would be going to someone else.

The men had perked up at that and it was only the suaveness of her butler that took her out of a situation that could have quickly turned deadly for Hybrid Technologies’ future. It turned out that Astoria was the heir to her father’s empire and at first, she’d been confused. Didn’t she need to be married to a man in order to have the power?

“Naturally, yes.” Said the family’s lawyer when he’d convened a meeting with the woman in her estate, avoiding the narrowed eyes of her looming butler. “But your father was quite explicit in his will. All proceedings and stocks are to fall upon you.” He paused, swallowing roughly and pulling at the collar of his pearl-white shirt and red tie. “Astoria Carlton-Ritz, congratulations. You’re now the CEO of Hybrid Technologies.”

A shaky hand had dabbed at his shiny forehead with a folded handkerchief but Astoria, as usual, had been oblivious.

As one can imagine, pandemonium ensued. Astoria had demanded to be taken to the main facility, ignoring the pleading and begging of her butler and newly hired personal assistant. Dressed in her best dress and adorned in her mother’s jewelry, she’d burst through the front door of the large building and immediately began to _ooh_ and _ahh_ at the shiny prototypes and lab coat wearing scientists that roamed the halls. A few visibly paled when they saw her and one even managed to drop a box of components onto the floor as he froze in surprise.

Astoria had swooped in to help but she hadn’t even touched the oddly shaped metal object before it was sparking and burning, singing the tip of her finger and making everyone all but tackle her out of the malfunctioning machination.

“What happened?” She’d whined, unsure of whether she wanted to cry or scream in righteous fury. 

The scientist cleared his throat, picking up the component and fiddling with it until it went back to normal. Well, as normal as a twisted lump of melted metal was.

“Nothing, my lady.” He said nervously. “Just...don’t touch anything. Please?” 

Astoria narrowed her eyes. “But it’s my company.”

“Of course!” The man was sweating bullets now, looking to his companions for help but receiving nothing but shrugs and small head shakes. Turning back to the woman, he attempted to explain the situation. “You’re this company’s future, miss! All of this is dangerous stuff and our company would fall if you were to get injured. We only want the best for you, Miss Ritz. Please, allow us to do our job so your company will prosper.”

“Well then what am I supposed to do?” She asked, turning to her wide eyed assistant and butler. 

Her assistant blinked, snapping out of his stupor, and said. “Maybe a party?”

“Party?” Astoria echoed, suddenly interested.

“Yes. Um, you see, your father had board members...and they sorta need you to talk to them.” A pause. “Be their friend.”

Needless to say, that was the only thing Astoria heard before she was back in the estate car and demanding to be taken to the nearest store in the city. Her assistant tried to tell her no, that he would plan it, but Astoria got tired of listening to him contradict her and so she fired him on the spot.

Her butler, was wisely quiet and simply nodded and did as she wished. Having the party on the rooftop of her father’s headquarters had been someone else’s decision but having the carnival theme had been all hers; they’d been driving past it and she’d been fascinated by all the pretty colors and odd mechanical contraptions. She had her butler drive her there and she’d all but announced that she was going to be having her party; nobody paid her any heed but that suited her just fine.

All those people with their simple shirts and jeans and tiny wallets weren’t invited anyways.

The party had been lavish; cakes and ice sculptures and her own personal chef had taken up a table, offering food and drink that you’d find only at the finest restaurants _for free_. And yet no one had thanked her throughout the whole party; nobody had so much as looked at her and when she approached, every single man had grimaced and pretended to be looking at something else. The older, wrinklier ones had been rude enough to turn their backs on her.

This normally would’ve made her sad but in that moment, she could feel nothing but anger. How dare they? She was the owner of a company now, dammit. She mattered! She was important! Everyone had to listen to her now, to respect and love her like they’d done to her father. Everyone had loved her father; they had a statue of him erected in the local park, for Pete’s sake; she read about it in the local paper. So why couldn’t they _love her_?

Why couldn’t they be _her_ friend?

She’d never expected the giant metal titans to rain down from the sky, stomping all over her presents and decorations and scaring away everyone she’d tried to please. For a brief moment, she expected to be happy that they were all gone, their screams and frightened expressions revenge for the wrongs they’d done to her. But when she found herself running from the purple beams of energy destroying the world around her, she could feel nothing but fear.

Fear that quickly turned to anger when those cold hard metallic fingers wrapped around her and forced her to come to a stop. How dare they touch her? How dare they ruin everything?! It was futile trying to fight against the strong grip of the Decepticons but she found herself doing so anyway because when had she been about making smart calculated decisions, anyway?

The flash of red that swept across her vision when she’d been reminded her of the day her mother had died. She’d been a little girl, maybe two or three, and she remembered her mother had been softly talking to her when she’d looked ill and began to cough. When she managed to settle her breathing, there was red in the palm of her hand and Astoria remembered the metallic salty smell of it because it’d been powerful enough to overpower the aroma of her mother’s perfume.

Astoria expected that to be her end.

But when she found herself in the cockpit of an airplane, the resignation had turned to awe and surprise.

An Autobot.

She was with an Autobot.

But that mattered little in the face of the sensation that crested in her belly and spread through her body as they twisted and turned and fell through the air. The weightlessness, the feeling of her breath suddenly leaving her body and the delirious dizziness that accompanied the sensation...it was magnificent! She’d paid no heed to the danger, not caring for the cuts and bruises she carried, focusing only on that single elusive feeling.

Was this what freedom felt like? 

Her blood boiled in her veins, heart pounding in her chest like a parading drummer’s snare drum and the flashes of color that whirled across her eyes reminded her of a broken kaleidoscope. She didn’t feel afraid because that charming voice, despite its constant nagging, sounded sure and confident.

The purple beams of energy were dodged with an elegant finesse and before she’d even blinked, they were standing underneath a freeway bridge and that voice she’d thought had been in her head was finally giving physical form.

Love hadn’t been something Astoria thought about too much when she was a kid. As a teenager and a woman, she never really had the opportunity to even explore the concept. She knew what it was and had seen it in movies and read it in those cheap romance books she ordered underneath her caretakers’ noses.

But oh how her heart fluttered and the butterflies soared in her belly when she laid her eyes on the mech standing before her. The tiny logical part of her mind told her she was just addicted to the feeling flying had given her but when his large hand had wrapped around her arm and he’d all but dragged her down the street, she knew it was so much more than that.

He wasn’t handsome. Well, not in the traditional sense. His head looked a bit like a big red traffic cone and she couldn’t really see any traces of a nose or a mouth and his frame was all blocky. But his eyes were kind. They glowed a deep blue, reminding her of a clear blue lake whose surface was dappled by the sun, and she felt like if given the opportunity, she could lose herself in his gaze.

Of course, it was difficult to do that when he kept shaking his head and gesturing wildly as he muttered about ‘stupid Decepticons’ and being ‘stuck on babysitting duty.’ The words should’ve been hurtful but all she could think about was how it felt to fly and the deep blue of his stare. Sure, he talked too much and did nothing but complain (and maybe his nudges were a little rough) but he was the first person, human or machine, that didn’t shy away from her. He didn’t burst into flames when she touched him.

He was...perfect.

Big, strong, and _perfect._

And his name was beautiful.

“Powerglide.”

An exasperated roll of his eyes and he turned to look at her, looking ridiculously cute hunched over the little merry-go-round horse that squeaked under his weight as they rode around in circles. “What?”

She wanted to say something romantic but the sound of kids running around and the odd creaks of the metal ride made for a terrible mood; not to mention the lighting was horrendous. “This is so much fun!” It felt silly admitting such things but it was the truth; her father had never taken her out to places to a carnival or a fair so she had no idea what to expect. It was like riding around in one of her father’s cars, but without the windows and doors making her feel all boxed in and imprisoned. The air smelled of caramel popcorn and cotton candy and when she leaned her head back just a little, slivers of sun caressed her face beneath her wide brimmed hat.

For a brief moment, she wasn’t the CEO of Hybrid Technologies. She wasn’t the unlucky girl who broke everything she touched. She wasn’t alone and afraid and unsure.

She was simply...free. 

“This is better than running that stupid old company any day!”

Powerglide leaned forward. “Astoria, we’ve got to get you out of here. It’s dangerous!”

The concern in his voice made her melt but she knew better than to swoon then and there. Subtlety and charm went a long way, after all. Or at least it did for Roberta when she was pursuing Franklin in _Heart’s Desire: Volume 10._   

But Powerglide was better than Franklin.

The metal of his palm and fingers was colder than she anticipated so it was difficult not to react violently when he told her he didn’t care about what she wanted to do next and that they were heading to Autobot headquarters. When his pink brushed against her throat, she suddenly remembered her father’s necklace and she clenched her fist and slammed it against whatever piece of him was closest. He backed off immediately, more alarmed than physical hurt.

_“Don’t you dare touch my necklace!”_

Powerglide’s eyebrows furrowed slightly and the sight was so human that she felt her anger dissipate as quickly as it’d appeared. Sighing, she wrapped her hand around the metal locket and told him everything. He listened and sounded truly apologetic for his actions, displaying a softness that’d been absent ever since they’d been in each other’s company. Her heart did that little flutter again when he reached out to take her arm, this time being mindful enough to not hurt her. It was a perfect moment, but like all good things in her life, it’d also been brief.

If you ask Astoria to recount the events of her capture and subsequent rescue, she’d tell you it was all just a great big blur and that she really didn’t remember much. But her eyes would cloud over and a smile would creep onto her lips, small but genuine. 

Because she remembered everything. From the warmth of that conversation she and Powerglide had in the desert to the euphoria of single-handedly thwarting a Decepticon plot thanks to her bad luck and crack-shot aiming. The necklace was absent from her neck and her company no longer held the technological edge it had over the competition but it was firm and strong, held together underneath the more mature leadership of its female CEO.

Sure, there was stuff she didn’t understand and when it came to business proceedings, it was best to leave it all to much more capable hands. But she was no longer looking out the window and longing to be somewhere else anymore.

Patience was now a virtue that she could proudly say she owned now. Because every night she’d climb up to the roof of her estate’s mansion and on the flat, structurally reinforced, surface sat the blocky red form of the mech that had stolen her heart. He’d be watching the stars, maybe talking to one of his comrades, but when he’d hear her approach, he’d turn all of his attention on her and for a brief moment, she became the center of the universe.

There was still an awkwardness to this tentative relationship they’d grown together, unavoidable in the face of their difference in cultures, species and the war that almost always seemed eager to take the red mech away from her. But they were invested enough to work through every little kink that popped up, to talk and plan until the path paving their way towards their future together was a little smoother.

A long time ago she’d thought that love was nothing more than a means to an end, an obstacle that needed to be overpassed to get something in return. In her books, sex had always been the endgame. Sleep with the charming male protagonist and your story was finished. In the life of the upper society she’d called home, love had been about gaining power. Of building relationships that sought to benefit everyone except the two people involved.

But Powerglide had taught Astoria that love was about much more than either of those two things. It was about patience, warmth, support...and understanding.

The war stretched on for years on Earth. Several times, the balances of power between the two factions were tipped and bots on either side found themselves floundering as their stability was ripped out from under them and they were plundered into disarray again and again, a never-ending circle of chaos and imbalance.

But Powerglide was always able to keep his balance, though. Even when times were rough. Even when he faced death and his fears reared their ugly heads. Because at the end of the day, he’d find his way to that rooftop again and the joy and admiration and affection in those dark grey eyes would prove to be the only medicine that truly took his mind of his own suffering.

As time passed, Astoria grew older and the war grew grimmer, and the times they could meet became sparse and few. Eventually, Astoria found herself being courted and she’d run to the roof, flustered and indignant, hoping to see the red form of the only mech she’d loved in her life. But the roof was empty and when she tried calling, only static met her efforts. She’d smiled, shook her head and muttered the red mech’s name affectionately under her breath before leaving to endure the party and the unwanted attention once more.

Days turned into months and with time, it became years. 

She remained hopeful.

Until one day, when the frown and smile lines deepened on her face and wisps of grey lined her dark brown hair, she went to the roof again and sat there until noon turned to night.

The phone in her hand, now old but still in good condition, beeped. 

She’d answered, grey eyes hopeful. 

“Carlton-Ritz?” A tentative voice asked, one she didn’t recognize but knew wasn’t human.

“Yes,” she said, leaning forward and cupping the phone eagerly with both hands. She listened intently to the other line, eyes on the horizon. For a few moments, her face was impassive but slowly, those eyes widened and those red lips parted into a silent gasp of shock and surprise. Swallowing roughly, she dabbed a finger against the corner of her eyes and nodded, thanking the voice on the other line before hanging up.

Her head fell into her hands and the only thing that could be heard were silent sobs of grief. For days, it was all she could do. When her suitor returned, she didn’t even look at him. For days, all she could do was hurt.

Because love lost was a pain so few people truly seemed to understand. When it’s real and true, it digs in deep. It holds onto you and keeps you together. And when it’s lost, you shatter.

Astoria Carlton-Ritz became broken on the day the Cybertronian war ended and Powerglide did not live to see the end of the conflict that’d all but destroyed his home world. But, ironically, that was also the same day Powerglide managed to teach her one last valuable lesson. Brief, poignant and painful. But necessary.

He taught her how to endure.

Love was not just about having, after all. Life was short, as fleeting as human bodies were to the ravages of time and circumstances, and more often than not, one finds themselves on their own. Cybertronians were alike with humans in that sense, so capable of dying.

Which is why being remembered mattered so much.

And that task now fell upon Astoria. To remember everything that Powerglide was, everything they shared, and to take upon those shared experiences to keep on living the life he no doubt would want her to continue with.

Because love, their love especially, endured. 

And so would she.

**Author's Note:**

> I fucking loved 'The Girl Who Loved Powerglide.' I don't care if it wasn't perfect or that it was G1. Powerglide and Astoria were a match that fueled my middleschooler shipping feels and I love them both dearly.


End file.
